Posted 5 years ago on Sept. 7, 2012, 1:02 a.m. EST by shadz66
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"Will the GOP Steal America's 2012 Election ?"

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman.

~

The Republican Party could steal the 2012 US Presidential election with relative ease.

Six basic factors make this year’s theft a possibility:

The power of corporate money, now vastly enhanced by the US Supreme Court’s Citizens’ United decisions;

The Electoral College, which narrows the number of votes needed to be moved to swing a presidential election;

The systematic disenfranchisement of---according to the Brennan Center---ten million or more citizens, most of whom would otherwise be likely to vote Democratic. More than a million voters have also been purged from the rolls in Ohio, almost 20% of the total vote count in 2008;

The accelerating use of electronic voting machines, which make election theft a relatively simple task for those who control them, including their owners and operators, who are predominantly Republican;

The GOP control of nine of the governorships in the dozen swing states that will decide the outcome of the 2012 campaign; and,

The likelihood that the core of the activist “election protection” community that turned out in droves to monitor the vote for Barack Obama in 2008 has not been energized by his presidency and is thus unlikely to work for him again in 2012.
Winning a fair and reliable electoral system can be achieved only with a massive grassroots upheaval.

The power of money is now enshrined by the infamous Citizens United decision. In at least 90% of our Congressional races and at least 80% of our US Senate races, the candidate who spends the most money wins. ( http://www.opensecrets.org/ )

From the presidency to the local level, our elections---and thus control of our government---are dominated by cash.

For more than a century, the ability of corporations and the super-rich to buy in directly has been legally constrained. But the concentration of media ownership in the hands of ever-fewer corporations has vastly enhanced their power.

Already in 2012, the tsunami of dollars pouring in from corporations and super-rich individuals has soared to entirely new levels. Even the floodgates opened by Citizens United can’t handle the flow. With its June decision denying Montana’s attempt to keep some spending restrictions in tact, the John Roberts US Supreme Court has inaugurated an era in which virtually unrestrained “pay-to-play” money will re-define the electoral process. Republicans in the US Senate have also blocked attempts to require that these campaign “donations” be made public.

It’s not hard to guess where this leads. The June, 2012, recall election in Wisconsin saw at least 8 times as much money being spent on protecting Republican governor Scott Walker as was spent to oust him.

Barack Obama has spent much of his presidency courting corporate interests. But he will be out-raised by the corporate/super-rich 1% backing Mitt Romney. A handful of high-profile billionaires will spend “whatever it takes” to put the GOP back into the White House. Just a dozen of them have already provided more than 70% of Romney’s early campaign budget.

Most of this corporate money is being used to persuade voters to oust Obama, which they may well decide to do. But US history shows that some of it can also restrict the ability of Americans to vote. It can then “bend” the vote count in ways the public may not want.

Our nation’s history shows that given the same chance, the Democrats would gladly do the same to the Republicans. And it’s happened many times, especially in the Jim Crow south.

But in 2012, it will be primarily Republicans using gargantuan sums of corporate money to take control of the government from Democrats, and democracy be damned.

We are not writing this in support of Barack Obama or the Democratic Party. We are mystified by their unwillingness to fight for meaningful electoral reform. Both Al Gore and John Kerry were legitimately elected president, but neither was willing to fight for us. When we broke many of the major stories on the theft of Ohio 2004, it was the Democrats who most fiercely attacked us.

We’re continually asked why the Democrats have been willing since 2000 to sit back and let the GOP get away with this. Frankly, we have no answer.

But for us, the more important reality is that this electoral corruption dooms the ballot as an instrument of real democracy. A system this badly broken means a bi-partisan oligarchy can always deny third and other grassroots parties the use of elections to challenge the status quo, in this case one increasingly defined by war, bigotry, injustice, moneyed privilege and ecological suicide.

Thus it’s been a century since the last significant electoral challenges to the Democrat-Republican corporate domination of the political system.

That challenge was staged by the People’s (Populist) and then Socialist Parties. In rapid succession they rallied huge grassroots followings demanding core changes to the corporate domination of American politics. The 30-year upheaval they represented laid the groundwork for major changes. But it failed to crack the corporate domination of our political system.

The Populists were shattered in 1896 with a combination of co-option by William Jennings Bryan’s Democratic Party and election theft engineered by Mark Hanna’s Republicans. (Republican strategist Karl Rove, a serious student of the 1896 election, considers Mark Hanna to be one of his great heroes).

The Socialists were co-opted and divided in 1916 by the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who then crushed them in the most violent wave of physical repression ever imposed by a US President on a mass movement that derived from the heart of America’s working public.

No third party has since risen up with enough real political clout to threaten corporate power through the electoral system. As long as our ballot box is corrupted and unaccountable, none will.

That one party could steal an election from the other means our democracy, if it could still be called that, is essentially in shambles.

But whatever the corporate parties do to each other separately---as the GOP is likely to do to the Democrats this year--- pales before what they can and will do in concert to crush grassroots movements aimed at challenging the core assumptions of the status quo: ie, winning peace, justice, corporate accountability and ecological preservation. This applies to candidates running for office and---as in Ohio 2005---to referenda meant to directly change corporate policy.

Who really believes that the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, the Chamber of Commerce and their related billionaires would spend tens of millions of dollars to win the White House but stop short of spending the relatively small amount it would take to flip the vote?

In the larger view, the ability of either (or both) corporate parties to do this means no grassroots party will be allowed to force meaningful change in America---at least not through the ballot box.

No reality could be more grim for those of us who believe in grassroots democracy. But we are citizens of a nation born with the bottom-up overthrow of the planet’s then-most powerful king. As believers in grassroots democracy, we know that the survival instinct is ultimately more powerful than the profit motive. When it comes to the basics, we have no doubt the power of the people will ultimately prevail.

But for those of you wanting in 2012 to return Barack Obama to the White House, big money may be about to slam the door. The new Jim Crow and the realities of electronic vote theft have made the likelihood of a Romney-Ryan president far stronger than you might want to believe.

IF The Corporate Donkey DNC & Hitlary stitch Sanders up in April'16 - he SHOULD ABSOLUTELY RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT & ditto for Trump so both could / should / would .. deal a perhaps mortal blow to The Utterly Undemocratic US Duopoly, itself for all intents & purposes a (s)election, after an ultimatum!!!

IF y'all vote D.Trump in, there will be .. A Hell Toupee!! However - you shall Overcomb someday!!

Never mind the GOP, will HRC steal Bernie's (& America's!) Election hope?!!! She is a RWNJ, Pro-war Dingbat - by ANY international measure!! That is bit harsh re Bernie, Shule! Also fyi, do reflect on this:

''The question Americans need to ask themselves is whether they support going back to a monarchy where certain people are above the laws which lesser persons are required to observe. Millions of American voters are asking how anyone can vote for someone who, in their perception, is a lawless candidate who has spit on the face of the Constitution and American Democracy.

''If Clinton is allowed to take office, instead of being arrested in connection with apparent election crimes, what impact will this have on future elections? This leads to the question of what crimes are acceptable in winning an election. Once the law-breaking line is crossed, is there really a limit? As with boiling frogs, wouldn't it be possible to break the law a little more and a little more each time if you are one of those above the law? Ask yourself whether Bernie Sanders would have been arrested if he and his wife had actively campaigned in front of and inside polling places. In future elections, will it become acceptable to simply discard the ballots voted for the less elite candidates into the nearest dumpsters? Or will it be acceptable for someone with the law-breaking rights of a Clinton to win an election by having their campaign workers point machine guns at voters as they vote? Doesn't allowing a candidate to keep her delegates illegally obtained defeat the purpose for having elections in the first place? Is American Democracy dead or will the voters in upcoming states take a stand by refusing to vote for lawless candidates?'' - from ...

BTW I'm attending the Plenary at the Left Forum as I write this. The gym is chock-a-block. The subject is, CAPITALISM AND MILITARISM--AT HUMANITY'S PERIL: ORGANIZING OUR POWER. Rachel Maddow is the moderator, and Tariq Ali, Medea Benjamin and Chris Hedges are on the panel. Unfortunately for different reasons, I don't think I will be back Sat or Sun.

Rachel Maddow at http://www.leftforum.org/ ?! Really?!! What is she trying to do? Get the sack from MSNBC?!!! Excellent that you attended - with clearly a lot of others. My Dad [RiP] actually shared a platform with Tariq Ali once in the seventies and so both in memory and in compliment,I append this:

"Apathy and Lethargy" are the enemies of 'Democracy' and are actually assiduously cultivated by the wholly (& unholy) "Corporate Owned MSM" in The U$A !

'Citizens United' is oxymoronic and like a sick joke, as it has nothing to do with 'Natural Born Humans' ; has even less to do with any concept of 'Citizen' that you or I may be familiar with ; and quite clearly has 'nada/zilch/zip' to do 'uniting' anyone - as the whole enterprise is really about 'dividing real citizens' and insinuating, imposing & consolidating "Corporate Rule" !!

American Democracy (demoCRAZY, deMOCKERYcy) - such as it is, is being debased & eroded daily & a R-money/Ryan ticket is A Corporate Dream Ticket !!!

"We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and it doesn't work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn't happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy."

I'm sure I left off more than Afghanistan in our country's fake reasons for doing what they do. This is what this forum is best at shooz, sharing info, learning, and teaching. Thanks teacher. Yikes, now on to the other comment you have waiting for me. ;-)

Voter Suppression is perhaps The Major Issue between now and November & one could argue that we should focus on this issue - along side but somewhat above, all else - for the time being as The True Implications of The Randian Romulans (Rmoney / Ryan / Rubio) in The White House slowly dawns on Americans. Of Course - Obummer Is FAR from any alternative for The 99% but the choice is between :

Romney has promised that his first action on day one of a Romney administration would be to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act. Of course, he wouldn’t have any authority to do that and attempting to pass legislation in congress would get stopped short in the Democratic-controlled senate. However, he may want to have a discussion with his running mate. It was recently disclosed that Paul Ryan quietly applied for funding for a Wisconsin healthcare clinic in his district. The funds would come entirely from the Affordable Care Act that Ryan and Romney now propose to repeal.

In an interview on the Bill Bennett radio show, Mitt Romney lashed out at what he considered to be false ads by a pro-Obama super PAC. In the course of his tirade he lamented that “in the past, when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns pulled the ad.” Romney said this even as he refused to pull his own ads that had been rated “Pants-on-Fire” lies by PolitiFact. Subsequently, the Romney campaign decided to abandon any pretense to honesty and declare that fact-checkers had “jumped the shark,” and that they would no longer “let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” In other words, we will lie if we feel like it.

At the GOP convention in Tampa, Ann Romney gave a keynote speech in which she told women, “You are the best of America. You are the hope of America. There would not be an America without you.” It was a naked attempt to appeal to women voters the GOP is having trouble connecting with. However, beyond her flattery she never uttered a word of support for issues of importance to women. There was no mention of equal pay, gender discrimination in the workplace, parental leave, or child welfare services like healthcare or nutritional programs. The only references she made to education were how fortunate her husband and children were to have the benefit of attending first-rate institutions that most Americans will never see. And the GOP platform strikes a markedly different tone by banning access to family planning services and effectively asserting that women, “the hope of America,” are not competent to make decisions about their own bodies.

The comments of GOP senate candidate Todd Akin regarding “legitimate rape” caused a firestorm of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Many on the right insisted that Akin withdraw from the Missouri senate race. However, most of the criticism was directed at the harm Akin caused to the GOP’s prospects of winning the seat, rather than to the offensive views he articulated. There was abundant gnashing of teeth over Akin’s stupidity for putting the election at risk. But when it comes to women, the right’s policies are actually a logical conclusion of Akin’s dumb outburst. In fact, Paul Ryan and Akin cosponsored a bill in the House that sought to redefine the term “rape.” Their bill would make federal funds unavailable for victims unless the crime was deemed “forcible,” which would have excluded many assaults that were statutory, incest or under duress.

Fox News and Romney have both recently made an issue of legislation in Ohio that would remove early voting availability for all voters except those in the military. The Obama Justice Department challenged the law arguing that every voter should have early access to the polls. Romney and Fox responded by accusing the president of wanting to make it more difficult for soldiers to vote, even though the administration’s position is to make voting easier for everyone. What Romney and Fox did not mention was that their position would have denied early voting to over 900,000 Ohio veterans (in addition to millions of other Ohio residents) who were not included in the GOP’s bill. [Note: An Ohio court just ruled in favor of the administration's position, but the Ohio Secretary of State insisted he would defy the court order to open the polls.]

Mitt Romney’s problems with his financial records are well known. He continues to refuse to release more than two years of his tax returns even as more evidence comes out that he has engaged in shenanigans involving off-shore banks and other tax avoidance schemes. Nevertheless, Romney had the audacity to address a group of donors and complain about big businesses that “save money by putting various things in the places where there are low-tax havens around the world.” Apparently that’s only acceptable for wealthy presidential candidates.

Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Mitt Romney says yes. The key issue of the Romney campaign from its inception has been his contention that the economy is in dismal shape and that it’s the president’s fault. Romney has said on numerous occasions that Obama may have inherited a troubled economy, but he made it worse. However, when asked by radio host Laura Ingraham about improving economic indicators, he said, “Well, of course it’s getting better. The economy always gets better after a recession.” Ingraham was stunned and gave Romney a second shot noting that he wasn’t helping his argument. Romney held firm saying, “Have you got a better one, Laura? It just happens to be the truth.” Soon after, Romney went back to falsely accusing Obama of making things worse.

While running for the GOP nomination for president in 2007, Romney was asked by reporters if he agreed with comments by then-candidate Obama that if Osama bin Laden were discovered in Pakistan he would take action if the Pakistanis did not. Romney responded, “I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours.” Earlier this year, on the anniversary of the death of bin Laden (who was killed by American Special Forces in Pakistan), Romney diminished President Obama's role by claiming, “Anybody would have made that call.” Well…not just anybody.

Romney was a vocal opponent of the auto industry bailout orchestrated by the Obama administration. He famously wrote an op-ed for the New York Times with the title " Let Detroit Go Bankrupt ." Fast-forward a couple of years to a newly profitable and growing automobile industry and we find that Romney has shifted his position. Today he not only claims he supported the bailout, but he considers himself responsible for its success. He told ABC News that “I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back.” That’s a little like Pontius Pilate taking credit for Jesus coming back.

When Romney ran for the senate in Massachusetts in 1994, he claimed to support abortion rights and punctuated his commitment to that position with a story about a close relative who died as the result of an illegal abortion. In a debate with his opponent, Ted Kennedy, Romney referenced his family’s loss and said “It is since that time that my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that.” So Romney once made an unwavering commitment never to force his beliefs on others, but now he’s pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. Is he through with grieving now? Is he comfortable with the grief that other families will suffer if his promise to repeal Roe v. Wade is fulfilled?

Hypocrisy and the Republican Party have never been separated by much The GOP was the originator of the healthcare insurance mandate, but flipped to opposing it after it was proposed by a Democratic president. The GOP supported the DREAM Act until Obama put it on the legislative agenda. Cap and trade was a GOP innovation. And the war hawks of the Republican right – Bush, Cheney, Rove, Boehner, Bolton, Limbaugh, Hannity, Kristol, Beck, et al. – never saw a day of combat. Mitt Romney, after protesting in favor of the draft to send other kids to Vietnam, avoided service via his Mormon missionary work in Paris, and received multiple academic deferments.

▬►To PROSECUTE Voter Suppression:
18 U.S.C. § 241 : US Code - Section 241: Conspiracy against rights
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or
intimidate any person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any
right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of
the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;
they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
ten years, or both.

▬►Electoral College Reform – convert to popular vote - easily
http://electoral-college.org/
Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states combined. The bill would take effect only when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538).

I don't know; I don't think there is any doubt that television has long served as the arbiter of permissible speech, and the only thing it appears that we've achieved over the last four years is a greater freedom of language - it is now, for example, considered PC to use the phrase "Ass Campers."

We're no closer to ending Middle East "conflict"; we're no closer to ending our foreign energy dependency; we're no closer to regaining the freedom of the skies, of reigning in the TSA-ers who insist on the visual strip search of old women and children, or any of the other various and similar invasions of our privacy.

We're no closer to reigning in Fed spending; we're no closer to curtailing debt; we're no closer to employing our population.

Four trillion in debt to our children so the Left could express themselves - rather sad.

Don't know what "Ass Campers" are but I can hear your 'cris de coeur' loud and clear, though your last sentence leaves me scratching my head a little. You can expect more of the same until The American 99% reclaim and remake their 'demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy' & start to mobilise under their own 'class interests'. Finally, your important point re. 'Television - The Drug of a Nation' in "The United States of Consciousness" - is sound & profound, thus (and please do try to catch the lyrics) :

Mr.Lucky probably feels so fortunate cos thinking & breathing are mutually incompatible for him and with 'ignorance being bliss' (allegedly, lol), he's as happy as a pig rolling around in its own in mess !!

More relevantly, re. 'Voter Suppression', have you seen the documentary :

Over the last 40 years nearly all of the increase in productivity went to the top 10%. Not because of outsourcing, but because of lack of union membership. When the people don't fight for their fair share of the economic pie by negotiation and collective bargaining, the selfish take it for themselves.

You said find us one; if you continue to threaten us in this manner we will - in the next election we'll produce hundreds for you. And they will all do significant Time BEFORE we deport them. No one - not even an American - can be this f*cking stupid.

Do yourself a favor, sometime during the course of our next election, make a trip to your local polling place... and observe. Our illegals now have more rights than law enforcement; they are not hiding in the shadows in any way shape or form. And they ARE voting.

Well, I have...! What are you thinking, that nobody in Langley Park votes? Listen, if they're bold enough to import drugs by the ton, attend our schools, go to our hospitals, and apply for all manner of social services - to fly the Mexican flag in America - what makes you think they are too pusillanimous to vote? Are you insane?

Dear Yob,
We, in Occupy, love the immigrants and embrace them and welcome them. And we will win the struggle to end your racist borders as we won the struggle for Civil Rights and desegregation. And you will go down in history with George Wallace and the KKK and Adolf Hitler and assorted racist scum as the most despicable monsters the human race has ever produced.